The present invention relates to a terminal for a PCMCIA card, and more particularly to such a PCMCIA terminal that has reinforcing side ribs for protection against deformation, and a tongue with a horizontal contact portion for soldering to a contact at the circuit board positively.
A PCMCIA card is a standard interface commonly used in notebook computers and other personal digital assistants. A regular PCMCIA card, as shown in FIG. 1, is comprised of a top cover shell A, a bottom cover shell B, and a circuit board C retained between the cover shells A, B. The circuit board C comprises a first connector D at one end for connection to a PCMCIA slot in a computer, and a second connector E at an opposite end for connection to an external peripheral apparatus. The second connector E comprises a plurality of metal terminals E1 soldered to respective contacts C1 at the circuit board C. FIG. 2 shows the terminals E1 for this purpose. The terminals commonly comprise two mounting legs for clamping on the top and bottom sides of the circuit board and soldering to respective contacts. Because the mounting legs are flat members, they tend to be damaged, or forced to deform before installation of the connector. When the mounting legs are deformed or damaged, the connector becomes useless. Furthermore, the plain design of the mounting legs makes the worker difficult to properly control the contact area between each mounting leg and the corresponding contact, thereby causing the soldering quality unable to be properly maintained.